


Fathers and Sons (And Something Close)

by scifisentai



Category: Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 03:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9953525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifisentai/pseuds/scifisentai
Summary: In which Ryuunosuke has an unexpected experience and almost has a heart attack, in true Ryuunosuke fashion.(Also, I madethisicon back in the day and couldn't not write something to go with it.)





	

Ryuunosuke stood in front of the unassuming apartment door, trying to get up the nerve to actually knock. He didn't know why he was so nervous, it was only Chiaki's apartment after all, nothing to be worried about. _Nothing to worry about_ , he told himself firmly, smoothing his shirt down once again before taking a deep breath and just knocking before he could talk himself out of it. Nothing to worry about, he repeated. But what if Chiaki wasn't home? What if Chiaki's _father_  answered the door, he had to be presentable. He didn't want to make a bad impression, after all and...

He firmly told himself to calm down. He wouldn't achieve anything by second-guessing himself - or Chiaki for that matter, that never went well - so it would be better to just take the situation as it came and adapt accordingly.

Just as he was beginning to think no-one was home a piercing _shriek_  rent the air and adrenaline flooded through him in a way it hadn't for months. The Gedoshuu were supposed to be _gone_ , what was happening in there?

"Chiaki?" he called, banging on the door again, mind racing as he tried to calculate other ways he could get in. "Chiaki, are you in there? Open the door. _Chiaki!_ "

It hadn't really _sounded_  like Chiaki, he told himself as he hammered on the door again, but that was less reassuring than it should have been. He knew what Chiaki sounded like in battle and this had been very different but the shrieking wasn't _stopping_ , it was just getting louder and louder and Ryuunosuke quickly summoned his ShinkenMaru before mentally gearing up to kick the door in. He could always apologise and pay for a new one later, but Chiaki's life was more important than a door and... and it opened just before his foot could connect with it. He stumbled forward a step then regained his balance, straightening up and taking in the sight of Chiaki - perfectly fine! - standing in the doorway.

"What?" Chiaki demanded, glaring at him. "Is there a reason you're trying to break down my door?"

"Um, I just... I heard..." Ryuunosuke frowned as a small detail about his friend suddenly registered. The slightly dishevelled state was not unusual - he sometimes thought Chiaki went out of his way to cultivate it - but what _was_  unusual was the small child on Chiaki's hip, tugging at Chiaki's hair before his friend yanked his head away with an impatient hiss. He blinked, certain that he must be imagining things, but no, that really was a toddler staring up at him, wide-eyed.

He stared at the little boy, then turned his incredulous stare on Chiaki because how was this even _possible?!_  Chiaki couldn't have a child, there was no way...

"Don't give me that," Chiaki said, giving him a scornful look as he stepped backwards into the apartment. "It's not my kid, alright? Are you coming in or not?"

"Ah, s-sure," Ryuunosuke stammered, sheathing the ShinkenMaru and feeling as though he'd been hit over the head by an Ayakashi. "Um, what...?"

Chiaki snorted and, once Ryuunosuke was inside, kicked the door shut. "Next door needed a babysitter," he said as Ryuunosuke slipped his shoes off. "Lucky us, me and dad got volunteered."

Ryuunosuke bit back his immediate response of correcting Chiaki's grammar - just because Chiaki had his hands full that didn't mean he was incapable of exacting retribution - and satisfied himself with looking around the small apartment instead. It looked as if a miniature whirlwind had struck, child's toys dotted around the place, pieces of paper with brightly-coloured messes on them lay scattered all over the floor. An overturned beaker lay on the table and the little boy hung over Chiaki's arm trying to get at it.

"Alright, alright," Chiaki sighed, putting him down. "I get it already."

"You're... babysitting," Ryuunosuke said, trying to reconcile the Chiaki he knew with one who looked after small children and the two didn't mesh very well.

"That's what I said, didn't I?" Chiaki snapped, herding the boy over to the table carefully. "Or are you getting hard of hearing now?"

"No," Ryuunosuke said hurriedly, "it's just..." _not like you_ , he finished inwardly.

"Just what?"

"Unexpected."

Chiaki huffed and sank to the floor by the table, sighing as the boy clambered into his lap, beaker held tightly in his little hands.

"What's his name?" Ryuunosuke asked, curious in spite of himself.

"Keisuke," Chiaki replied. "And he's a pain in the..." He shut up briefly before glancing down at Keisuke-kun and finishing with, "Well, he's a pain, alright? He never stops."

Ryuunosuke felt his lips twitching as Chiaki censored himself. Maybe Chiaki and small children wasn't such a disconnect as he'd thought.

"I tried putting him to sleep but he wouldn't," Chiaki continued, aggrieved. "He just kept crawling all over the place and trying to draw on the walls and he won't stop _poking_  me, cut that _out!"_ Keisuke-kun giggled as Chiaki grimly tugged the little boy's fingers off his ear. "He's driving me crazy."

"The two of you seem very similar," Ryuunosuke commented before realising his mistake. Chiaki's eyes narrowed and he got to his feet, picking Keisuke-kun up and then plopping him down in Ryuunosuke's lap.

"You look after him while you're here," Chiaki said. "I need a break."

"But--!" It was no good, Ryuunosuke mused glumly. Chiaki wasn't going to listen to him, he'd just have to do the best he could. "Alright."

It didn't take long for Ryuunosuke to realise just why Chiaki wanted that break so badly: Keisuke was a very active little boy and he had Ryuunosuke run ragged within the space of half an hour. Chiaki for his part had holed himself up in a corner with his DS and was ignoring them. Or at least doing an impression of ignoring them because Ryuunosuke caught him watching them every now and then, even if he made no move to come and help, even when Ryuunosuke landed face first on the carpet, childish giggles echoing in his ears.

So far Chiaki hadn't asked why he was here, which Ryuunosuke was glad for. Right now he couldn't even remember himself why he'd come, only that it hadn't been to help Chiaki look after a two-year-old from hell. He barely registered the sound of the apartment door opening, but he jumped at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, calling Chiaki's name.

Chiaki dropped his DS and headed for the door, taking bags off the person who had just walked in. Ryuunosuke stared at the man, startled by the resemblance: there was no doubt this was Chiaki's father and he suddenly wished he didn't have baby food on his face, because there went any chance of a good first impression.

Chiaki's father looked at him in surprise. "Who're you?" he asked curiously, crouching down where Ryuunosuke was sitting and taking Keisuke-kun off him, bouncing him gently. Of course, Ryuunosuke thought. Chiaki had been raised by his father, the man would have to know how to cope with active toddlers. And he was strangely unconcerned by strange people being in his home.

Ryuunosuke grabbed a tissue and hurriedly wiped his cheek clean before bowing. "Ikenami Ryuunosuke, pleased to meet you."

"Ikenami, huh," Chiaki's father said thoughtfully. "It's been a while. Last time I saw you you were about Keisuke here's age."

Ryuunosuke felt his jaw drop and out the corner of his eye he noted Chiaki seemed just as stunned.

"What?" Chiaki's father asked, his mouth twitching in amusement as he raised an eyebrow at his son. "I never told you?"

"Daaad," Chiaki whined. "Don't just drop these things into conversation like that. Ryuunosuke doesn't need to deal with your weirdness. How'd you know him, anyway?"

"It was just after the final battle against Dokoku," his father shrugged. "Something to do with having all the children meet at least once before we all separated again."

"Did you know about Takeru?" Chiaki asked suspiciously and his father shrugged.

"Of course not, how could we?"

Chiaki muttered something under his breath and stomped back over to where his DS was lying on the floor. "You can look after Keisuke now you're back," he announced. "Ryuunosuke and I are worn out."

Ryuunosuke smiled as Chiaki's father laughed, wishing a little wistfully that he had such an easy relationship with his own father.

"You have good friends, Chiaki," his father said happily, giving Ryuunosuke a bright smile that Ryuunosuke instantly recognised from a year at the Shiba mansion. "Mako-chan and now Ryuunosuke-kun."

Chiaki shrugged, then gave his father a stern look. "Just don't flirt with him like you did Nee-san."

Ryuunosuke promptly choked on empty air as Chiaki's father gave his son a reproachful look.

"Mako-chan was a very nice girl," he said loftily. "And I'm sure Ryuunosuke-kun is a very nice boy."

"Just... stop talking," Chiaki retorted, slapping a hand over his father's mouth. "Before Ryuunosuke passes out from lack of oxygen."

Chiaki's father laughed again, the sound muffled under Chiaki's hand. "Fine, I'll behave," he promised and Chiaki removed his hand warily. Chiaki's father gave Ryuunosuke a quick wink and headed to the other side of the room where the paper and crayons were lying, setting Keisuke-kun down among impromptu nest and Ryuunosuke found himself finally breathing properly again.

"Sorry 'bout that," Chiaki apologised, handing him a glass of water. "Dad just doesn't know when to shut up sometimes. And this is a good day."

Ryuunosuke shook his head vigorously, his fringe stinging his eyes. "No, it's fine. Really."

Maybe it was just as well he hadn't met Chiaki's father before, Ryuunosuke thought later. He wasn't entirely sure he could cope with prolonged exposure to father and son at the same time.


End file.
